The Pizza Shop — Restaurant in Mount Dora

We had a pizza craving and we were all too busy to take the time to drive down to 1905 Pizza in Apopka, where you can get a real New York pizza. After a quick Google search we decided to try The Pizza Shop. Honestly, I don’t like giving anyone a bad review, but whoever thinks this is New York style pizza has never been to NYC. Take it from a Brooklyn girl—NYC pizza crust gets its flavor from good Italian olive oil and the right balance of salt. It’s not a perfect circle because it’s hand stretched, and very thinly, an important part of the technique in terms of texture. After it’s baked the crust will have some bubbles that have popped in the oven and some dark spots. It will be tender, but crisp, so that when you fold a slice, the crust will crack. The sauce is made from scratch using high quality Italian tomatoes, again high quality olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, and a touch of oregano. The cheese is hand-grated whole milk (buffalo is beat) mozzarella that has flavor and melts well, without becoming stringy. It should be finished with a sprinkle of parmigiano reggiano. The best pies have a little snipped fresh basil added when it comes out of the oven. While the photos on The Pizza Shop’s website looked good, we knew it was wrong as soon as we opened the box. A perfect circle of pale, too-thick dough. It was kind of like cracker dough in flavor. No cracking crust here. The sauce was practically non existent, so I can’t really report on the flavor, but I didn’t notice any flavor. The cheese was hard and chewy and stringy, and it squeaked against our teeth, the way cheese curds do. I was actually worried about choking. I ate one slice because I was hungry, but I couldn’t make it through the second slice....

My family ordered an 18" pepperoni pizza with 5 spicy garlic and 5 Jamaican jerk wings for delivery. The pizza was great and we were very pleased with how great it tasted. The wings, however, seemed undercooked, had a very rubbery texture and were chewy. We took one bite of each flavor and spit it out.

I called the store to express my dissatisfaction with the wings and requested a refund as my family would not be eating them at all. The gentlemen on the other line stated the cook their wings in the oven, not a fryer, which is why they were a different texture "than what I'm used to". I let him know they were very unappetizing and we would not be eating them. He offered a 1/2 refund. I stated again that we are not eating them, and I'd be happy to personally bring them to the store to return and show a manager. He advised he was the owner so there was no need, and then agreed to the full refund as requested.

I am still pending receipt of my refund for the wings and hope it will come through so I can leave the review as is.

TLDR; the pizza was great, the...

Second update 12/18/21: Not sure if this place is under new management, but the food has changed- at least the meatball subs have. They are still good, but not as good as the ones we had back in June.

Update 6/6/21: This weekend we ordered the meatball sub and it is one of the BEST meatball subs I've ever had! I felt extremely satisfied while eating it (weird way to describe food but accurate). I highly recommend it. It was even delicious reheated.

We've ordered food from here a few times. Everything has always tasted good and their prices are reasonable. The entree meals are very reasonably priced and come with a ton of food. We've only ordered pizza once, but it was good. The only reason I'm giving them 4 stars instead of 5 is because every time we have ordered from here online, the initial wait time is about 20-25 minutes. However, shortly after placing the order, we always get an email that says things are taking longer. Usually it's a 45 minute to an hour plus wait for the order to be ready- so be prepared and consider...